On Yoga: The Architecture of Peace

The documentary rests on Michael O’Neill’s book of the same name. O’Neill spent ten years photographing the leading masters of yoga. The film tells the story of those ten years. It was designed as an extension of the book, adding movement and sound alongside the photographs. The questions are asked from the present and come from a personal place. Deepak Chopra and the physician Dean Ornish are among those who speak. The film treats yoga not as a history lesson but as a practice. The language of the account is respectful rather than distanced, and that view is the film’s own. The eighty seven minutes are spread over a long piece of work. Heitor Dhalia’s documentary, a coproduction of four countries, was completed in 2017.